Wedding Night With A Stranger
by perfectly flawed woman
Summary: Zero has been set up. Instead of being welcomed in japan by family friends,he's picked up from the airport by a strikingly gorgeous stranger. Kaname doesn't know what to expect from his contract lover-to-be.But it certainly isn't the handsome Kiryu Zero,or the combustible attraction that sizzles between them. Perhaps there might be an upside to this to this ridiculous arrangement?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! this is a story I wrote a year ago but was previously dedicated to a different anime [Detective Conan]. However, due to unpredictable circumstances, I have read and watched Vampire Knight and got addicted to KanamexZero pairing. I just can't find my muse continuing the plot under the previous characters. So, I decided to change the names of the characters and edited some of the previously written stuff.**

**This is my first time publishing a story for Vampire Knight. Please bear with me for the grammar/spelling errors as I don't have a beta reader. English is not my native language so please bear with me. I'll try to update as soon as I can but please try to leave reviews so I'll know whether I should proceed with this or not.**

**I don't want to put a disclaimer on all the chapters of my fics so I'll just put it on the very first chapter.**

**As much as I would like to own Zero and Kaname, our very dear Matsuri Hino own them. I'll just borrow them and write fics to my liking. Oh and by the way, this is an AU story. **

**Warnings! This is a YAOI story. A love story between two guys/boy/male. If you are not interested to this kind of elationship/plot/twist/story, please hit the back button. Thank You.**

**Full Summary:**

**Zero Kiryu has been set up. Instead of being welcomed in japan by family friends, he was picked up from the airport by a strikingly gorgeous stranger...**

**Kaname Kuran doesn't know what to expect from his contract lover-to-be. But it certainly isn't the handsome Kiryu Zero, or the combustible attraction that sizzles between them. Perhaps there might be an upside to this ridiculous arrangement?**

**But once the bartered lover's been wedded, it seems that neither party is in such a hurry to annul the marriage as planned...**

* * *

**MEET AND GREET**

_'Unfortunately, a marriage license doesn't come with a job description or a set of instructions. There is definitely "some assembly required." In fact, putting together a modern-day marriage can be likened to assembling an airplane in flight.'_

**oOoOoOo**

Zero leaned over the balcony rail and contemplated plunGing into the sea. Serve Kaname Kuran right if he was found floating face down. He'd have to look elsewhere for a partner. But though summer heat shimmered on the afternoon air, Tokyo Harbor looked deep and chill, and he edged back. Knowing his parents had died in those restless waters didn't make them any more appealing. He could be eaten by sharks!

The view was spectacular, he supposed, even after the heart-stopping beauty of Tokyo, but it all felt remote to him. His joy in coming back to Japan had withered. He felt as alien as he ever had in any foreign place. Incredible to think he was born here.

He turned back into his hotel suite and sank onto the bed's luxurious coverlet, reaching listlessly for the tour brochure that had sucked him in. The Meiji-shrine. How thrilled he'd been, how excited. The sad joke was there never had been any such pleasures intended for him. He was here to be chained to the bed of a stranger.

Unless he ran. The minuscule hope reared again in his heart. This Kaname Kuran had failed to meet his plane. Maybe he'd changed his mind?

The phone rang and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Kaien, ringing to apologise for the trick and tell him to come home? Explain about the mistake with the hotel booking?

It was Reception. 'Good afternoon, Kiryu-kun, you have a visitor. A Kuran Kaname-san. Do you wish to meet him in the lobby, or shall I give him your room number?'

"No." His heart had jolted out of its niche but he gasped, "I'll come down."

With a shaking hand he replaced the phone. He would just have to tell Kuran he was Zero Kiryu, an American citizen, not a commodity to be traded in some deal.

He struggled on with his jacket. His face was paler than his silver hair, his eyes the dark violet they looked when he was angry, or afraid.

His legs felt numb. On the way down in the lift he tried to quell his nerves with some positive thinking. Courage was all that was needed. Japan was a civilized country. People couldn't be forced here. In fact, he was curious to see what sort of man would sink so low as to barter for a partner in the twenty-first century. Was he so old he was locked in the traditions of the past? So repulsive as to have no other choice?

Anyway, he was brave. He would refuse. After all, he was the notorious groom who'd left the heir to one of the richest fortunes in LA standing at the altar. That had taken courage, though his uncle and his lover's world had judged it differently.

Still, when he stepped out of the lift on the ground floor and saw the obese elderly man in baggy clothes standing near the reception desk, he felt the blood drain from his heart. How could they? How could they? Then, even as the opulent lobby with its long low lounges and glass-walled views of the city swayed sickeningly in his sight, the man hailed some people across the room and walked to join them.

Oh. So not him. That small relief, at least. For the moment.

His anxious gaze roved the groups of travellers, busy hotel staff, people queueing at the desks, and lighted on another unaccompanied man, this one tall and lean, dressed in a dark suit. He was standing by the entrance with his back to him, phone to his ear, jacket switched back at one side while his free hand rested on his hip. He was pacing backwards and forwards with a lithe, coiled energy, occasionally gesticulating with apparent impatience.

He turned suddenly in Zero's direction, then checked. His nerves jumped. He could tell he'd caught sight of him because the lines of his tall frame tensed, and even from this distance he could see him frown. He said something into his phone, then snapped it shut and slipped it inside his jacket.

Despite his moment of bravado, Zero's stomach clenched.

Kaname hesitated a moment, then walked across the wide lobby towards Zero, his frown smoothing away. Too late though, because Zero'd already seen it. As Kaname drew nearer Zero saw, with a growing sense of unreality, that the other was good-looking. A sleek, beautiful male. Athletically built, even in a suit. Why would he ever need to order in a partner?

He wasn't so old. Twenty one or two, nothing more than that. He might just be a nephew, or cousin. Perhaps he was mistaken, and he wasn't the one.

He halted at a couple of metres distance.

'You're Kiryu Zero?'

Kaname's voice was deep and beautiful, but it was his eyes that held Zero. They were mesmerising, a dark glinting reddish-brown fringed by thick black lashes. They swept over the silverette in a cool assessment, made cooler by the stern set of his mouth, but Zero could guess what they sought. Would he be a sufficient trophy?

He felt the proud colour rise to his cheeks. Anger and humiliation made his voice scrape in his throat. 'Yes. I'm Zero Kiryu. And you are... ?'

Kaname heard the stiff tone and his expectations received instant confirmation. So, Kiryu Zero, child of the Kiryu shipbuilding dynasty and his potential partner, was as spoiled as he was rich. Despite his fury at the trap he found himself in, he felt a curious edge of anticipation as he examined Zero's face for the first time. Whatever transpired, this might be the person he married.

His face was nothing like the one Kaname'd once thought the ultimate in masculine beauty, but he could concede it had a symmetry. He could imagine how Yuki would have described it. Heart-shaped, with those cheekbones.

He had creamy skin with an almost satin translucence, and quite astonishing deep amethyst eyes, glittering now with some sort of emotion. his thin mouth was especially sensuous, somewhere between sweet and sulky. An alluring blend of sultriness and innocence, if he could believe that. A siren's mouth.

He could have been worse. If a man was blackmailed into marriage, whatever the failings that had brought the person to this point, Kaname should at least look presentable.

He swept the rest of Zero with a judgemental gaze.

His hair was silver, lighter than it had been in the photo the magnate had posted, though he's dusky eyebrows and lashes. He supposed Zero was good looking, if a man happened to admire that particular face.

He was slightly smaller than Kaname'd expected, though in his designer jeans and jacket his body appeared slim and, he had to admit, graceful, with a waist so slender he could span it with his hands.

As far as he knew anything about apparel Zero was dressed well, nothing flamboyant. Limited jewellery, though what he had was no doubt the finest money could buy.

He realised his pulse was pumping a little faster than the average. All right, so the silverette was attractive with those eyes. He could afford to be. He seemed pale, perhaps he was nervous, but Kaname cut any softer emotions that might have evoked.

He should be nervous. He'd be even more nervous when he understood the sort of man he'd had the gall to attempt to add to his acquisitions.

As the full picture sank in Kaname found his eyes needing to return to Zero's face.

His lungs tightened. Yes, certainly, it could have been worse.

"Kuran Kaname," he said finally, making a belated move to extend his hand.

Zero kept his at his side. Never to touch him, he resolved fiercely. Not if he could help it.

Kaname's brows twitched, and Zero knew he'd taken note of the silverette's small rebuff. But he stayed as smooth as glass. "Your uncle arranged that I should meet you and show you around Tokyo."

"Oh," he said softly. "So it was you who was to meet me at the airport?"

Kaname's eyes glinted, then were almost immediately screened by his thick black lashes. "I apologise for not managing to be there. Tuesdays are always demanding for my office and I'm afraid I got caught up. Still..." He smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. "I guessed you would be quite experienced in these matters." Somehow his voice was the more cutting for being so gentle. He spread his hands. "And here you are. Safe and sound, after all."

What 'matters'? With a pang Zero wondered what Kaname heard about him. Would news of the wedding debacle have reached this distant shore? 'Experienced' was no innocuous word. Or did Kaname assume Zero must be easy? Traded like a piece of livestock on a regular basis?

"No harm done," he added.

Offhand, to say the least.

Zero thought of the morning he'd spent waiting for someone- any friendly face-at the airport, his agony of fear and indecision after the long trip and being tricked onto the plane. Praying that somehow, against all the odds, he'd misunderstood, and there would be a representative of the Kuran family waiting with open arms to invite him into their warm family home. Worrying if he should take himself to the hotel, or run like the wind to some safe haven. Only what safe haven, when he was a stranger here?

The only vague knowledge he had of Japan, apart from his memories of his parents' home, remote flashes of that first little primary school, was the beach house his parents had taken him to for a visit with some distant relative of his mother's. He had no idea where it even was.

As an apology this didn't even rate. Had Kaname been so reluctant to interrupt designing his satellites, or whatever he did? These days, did men expect their mail-order partner to deliver themselves to the door?

"I'm sorry you are dragged away from your worknow," Zero said, equally gentle. "Perhaps you would prefer to postpone this meeting."

One thick dusky brow elevated. "Not at all, Kiryu-san. I am charmed to meet you now."

The words were smooth, but uttered in a silky tone that conveyed a wall of ice inside that elegant dark navy suit and pale blue shirt, colours that perfectly enhanced the bronzed tones in his skin and his dark brown hair.

Then, paradoxically, as if his coldness had somehow stirred the male in him, his dark eyes made an involuntary flicker to Zero's mouth, hooked there an instant too long.

Zero angled a little away, his blood pulsing, indignation struggling with his body's involuntary response to the disturbance in the atmosphere surrounding his body. Testosterone, no doubt. It was only natural Kaname'd be thinking about him in terms of sex.

He pulled the edges of his jacket a little closer. "I'm not sure what my uncle told you, Kuran, but I came out here for a holiday. Nothing more than that."

Kaname considered him with an unreadable expression, then blasted any pretensions of innocence Zero might try to place on the situation.

"I'd have thought Yagari would have been in a position to buy his nephew a bride or a groom from any of the grand houses in Los Angeles, Kiryu-san." Kaname's eyes swept over him again in a smouldering acknowledgement of his desirability. "I'm surprised to have been so-honoured. And flattered, of course."

The words blistered Zero's sensibilities. He saw kaname's eyes flare with a dark, dangerous emotion that wasn't anything like feeling flattered, or honoured, and shock jolted through him. The man was angry. Was Zero such a disappointment? He didn't want Kuran to want him, but the insult sank deep, just the same.

But he mustn't let Kuran see him as some toothless lion. He'd better learn Zero could defend himself.

"I'm surprised you could be bought, a man like you," Zero mocked, though his voice trembled.

Kaname's eyes flashed. "You'd better be sure you know what you've bargained for, Kiryu-san. Tell me, once you have me shackled to your side, what do you hope to do with me then?"

Zero met Kaname's smouldering dark gaze, and tried to repress visions of lying naked beside him on some wide bed. Of being held in his arms, pressed against his lean, hard body, his reddish-brown eyes... But, he wouldn't... And he couldn't want to... he'd never...

He quickly thrust the images away. What could his uncle have promised on his behalf? With a helpless sense of shame, he scrambled to find something to minimize the outrage Yagari had committed against his autonomy.

"My uncle arranged this holiday simply so we could meet. That was all. Just so we could-meet. To see if we... To see if there would be any..." Zero felt the hot tide of embarrassment rise through his chest and neck and all the way to his ears, and, furious at his weakness, added hoarsely, "There is no requirement for-for anything further. I'm a free man. This is the modern world."

Kaname's chiseled, sexy mouth made a faint disbelieving curl, then he said very politely, "Oh, right. Sure it is. But try to understand this, Kiryu-san, I'm a serious guy. I'm not some racing-car celebrity or a prince with time on his hands between yacht races. I have a company to run. Some people choose to work, in case you haven't heard. I won't be able to devote myself to your entertainment twenty-four seven."

Kaname was so cold and unfriendly, all Zero's hurt and tension, the fear and helplessness of the plane trip, the shock of the betrayal, wound him up to an emotional explosion. The fiery blood rushed to his head and he snapped, "I'd rather you didn't devote yourself to me at all, Kuran-san."

The silverette felt the shock impact of his words, then all at once had a burning consciousness of Kaname's gaze on his clasped, trembling hands, and tried to shift them from view. His loss of control had generated something, though, because he sensed a change in the air.

Kaname stared, for the first time seeing the shadows under his fierce amethyst eyes, the rapid, vulnerable pulse in his tender throat. With a sudden lurch in his chest Kaname had a flash of himself as a brute holding some delicate, threatened creature at bay.

A creature with sensitivities, nerves and anxieties. He couldn't control the overpowering thought. A creature-a person who might soon be his to undress.

If he signed that contract.

His sulky mouth made a tremor, and against his will, against all the odds, his blood stirred. Hell, but Zero had a kissable mouth. An intensely kissable mouth.

Poised on an emotional tightrope, his defensive instincts up in arms, Zero sensed the tension emanating from him rock into a different sort of beat.

* * *

So what do you guys think ?

Please hit the review button so I would know if it's a good idea to proceed or not.

Constructive criticism is welcome! But no flames due to none yaoi lovers please .. You should have known it's a yaoi story just from the summary.

Thanks everyone! See you..


	2. Chapter 2

"I wondered what happened when you offered yourself to someone, and they opened you, only to discover you were not the gift they expected and they had to smile and nod and say thank you all the same."  
― Jodi Picoult, _My Sister's Keeper_

-linebreak-

-o-o-o-o-

He drew in closer, bringing the silverette the faintest trace of some pleasant masculine cologne, and his sexual receptors suddenly oared awareness of the brunette's vibrant body. Behind that blue shirt there was a beating heart, flesh, blood and raw, muscled power.

'Kaname,' the brunette stated. 'Look, er, Zero... It's alright if I call you Zero?'

The other gave a jerky shrug.

'Whatever you choose to call your presence here, I've agreed to play my part in it. Unless you'd rather pass on the whole thing?' Kaname's expression was suddenly grim, his eyes hard and challenging.

It was an ultimatum. Zero's heart skipped an alarmed beat. What if he phoned Zero's uncle and told him he was being uncooperative? After the plane trick, he wouldn't put it past Yagari to refuse to help sort out the accommodation mix-up. It occurred to him then that the bungled hotel booking mightn't even be a mistake.

With limited money, and no way of paying for thirty nights at Tokyo prices, he might very well be forced to beg for this man's generosity.

With a sinking heart, this could be exactly what they'd planned. Yagari's words came back to him with a chilling significance.

'The Kurans are good people,' Yagari Toga had asserted before he's woken up to his ploy. 'They'll look after you. I'm guessing they'll have you out of that hotel and into the Kuran family villa in no time.

The Kuran family villa. Except it wasn't the Kuran _family_. It was one member of it. One angry, ice cold member.

Until he could talk to his uncle and his lover again, get a clearer idea of where he stood money-wise, perhaps his best option was to pretend to play along.

He met Kaname's dark eyes and crushed down his pride. 'No. No, look.' The words were ashes on his tongue. 'I'm-really very grateful for your kindness.' His voice cracked on the last one.

The brunette's heavy lashes lowered. The faintest flush tinged his cheeks as he said brusquely, 'All right, then. So-dinner this evening? I'll pick you up here at seven.' His eyes flickered to Zero's mouth. 'Might as well-make a start.'

-linebreak-

Zero walked fast, up and down the hotel suite's sitting room until he'd nearly worn a furrow in the carpet. Then he strode furiously around straightening the pictures, shifting lamps to more pleasing positions, realigning the chairs.

His uncle's scheme has placed him in an impossible situation with that icy, smoldering man. What had he been offered to marry Zero? No wonder he had such a low opinion of the silverette, but why,oh, why had he agreed if it enraged him so much ?

Maybe, if he could have despised Kaname more, he wouldn't feel so ashamed. Ashamed of his uncle. Ashamed of himself and the mess he'd fallen into by thinking he was in love with that smooth-talking liar, Kaito Takamiya.

Imagine if Kaname Kuran heard about the wedding scandal. His uncle's words on the subject had rung in his ears all the way to Japan. 'There isn't a man in America who would touch you now with a very long pole.'

Surely his uncle must know that if he did marry someone, even someone 'bought'-he flushed again at the memory of Kaname's stinging words-the man would have to be told about the scandal.

Other things Kaname had said returned to him now with scathing significance. _Some people choose to work, in case you haven't heard._ As if the brunette had assumed he had no professional qualifications of his own. Did he look as if he'd spent his life as a useless ornament?

He kept rephrasing the things he'd said to Kaname ad turning them into what he should have said. Next time he saw him... Tonight, if he could bear to face him tonight, he'd set him straight about what sort of man he was. And if he thought for a second, for an instant, that he would ever be available to him...

When the storm had calmed a little, he sat on the bed and forced himself to reason. In the states it would be morning. His uncle would be on his way to his office, his uncle's partner engaged in instructing the housekeeper. Kaien was always affectionate and easy to deal with, though his compliance in the subterfuge to trick Zero onto the plane had been a painful shock. The hurt felt more savage every time he thought of it. His loving Uncle Cross must have believed in his husband's solution to the 'Zero problem,', at least a bit.

He put his head in his hands, still unable to believe all that had happened. Had they intended it as a punishment? He'd believed in their kindness absolutely, ever since, after the accident, they'd brought him as a seven-yer-old to his uncle's house on California. Though quiet a lot older than his parents, they'd done all they could to replace them. In their old-fashioned way they'd loved him, protect him, even to the point of making him feel quite suffocated by the time he reached eighteen.

Why hadn't he woken up sooner to this holiday idea? When had Yagari ever wanted him to leave the states without them in the past? Everything he'd done, every step he's taken from the time he was seven, had been under his care and protection, as if he was the most precious individual on the planet.

Even when they's sent him to boarding school in England, either Uncle Kaien or Uncle Yagari himself had come personally every half-dy or holiday to collect him. Long after he'd returned to Cali to attend university, he'd been told that one of the gardeners employed at the school had in reality been his own personal security guard. Uncle Yagari had never stopped worrying that he might be kidnapped and held to ransom.

How ironic. Once he'd been their jewel, but since he'd let them down and caused the scandal he must have lost his luster In their traditional way of thinking they still believed a large part of family honor depended on the marriages their sons and daughters made, the grandchildren they could boast of.

It wasn't too hard to understand. They'd never stopped grieving over their own childless state. They'd pinned all their hopes on him, their 'adopted' son, to provide the nearest thing to grandchildren they could ever achieve.

'You'll _like_ the Kurans,' Uncle Yagari had enthused on another occasion, determined to lure him into the trap. 'They're good people. They'll look after you. My father and old Kaname talked in taverna every night for fifty years. They were the best of friends. You will be taken care of there every step of the way.

Uncle Kaien had hugged him so tightly. He should've seen then that it all felt like goodbye. 'It will do you so much good, my dear. It's time you visited our own country.'

'I thought America was my country now,' Zero had put in, grateful they were at last moving on after the months of recriminations. And, face it, a little nervous to be venturing so far on his own at long last.

'And so it is. But it's important to see the land of your birth. Admit it. you've lost your job, you've lost your flat, people are whispering about you...You need a break.'

_They_ needed the break. He could see that now. From him. From the embarrassment he'd brought them.

It wasn't until he was on the plane buckling his seat belt that he'd woken up.

'Kaname will meet you at the airport and show you around Tokyo,' his uncle Kaien had said at the very last.

His uncle Yagari's hearty laugh had followed him down the embarkation corridor. 'Dont come back without a ring on your finger and a man in your suitcase.'

He should certainly have known then. Kaname's name had hardly been mentioned until that moment. Still, it wasn't until the hostess was preparing to embark on the safety rigmarole that the shattering possibility had dawned. In a sudden panic, Zero had whipped out his mobile and dialed.

'Uncle. Oh, oh, Uncle.' His voice shaking in fearful certainty. 'This isn't some sort of matchmaking thing, is it? I mean, you haven't set something up with this Kaname Kuran, have you?'

Guilt always make his uncle bluster. 'You should be grateful you Uncle Kaien an I have taken matters into our hands for you Zero.'

'how? What do you mean?'

Yagari's voice crackled down the phone. 'Kaname Kuran is a good person. A fine man.'

'What? No, no, Uncle, no. You must be joking. You can't do this. This isn't my choice...'

'_Choice_.' Yagari's voice rose in his ear. 'You've had choices,a nd look what you did to them._Look_ at yourself. You're nearly twenty-three years old. There isn't a man in US-Greece-Europe who will touch you. Now try to be a good boy and do the right thing. Be nice to Kaname.'

'But I dont know him. And he's old. You said he was old. This is a _holiday_. You promised-you said-'

Hi tearful protests were interrupted.

'Sir, sir.' the flight attendant was hovering over him, something about turning off his mobile phone.

'I can't,' he told the man. _He,_ who had always hated a fuss and had turned himself inside out at times to avoid making trouble. 'Sorry,' he tried to explain to the anxious little guy. 'I have to...' He made a hurried gesture and turned back to the phone, his voice spiraling into a screech. 'Uncle Yagari, this isn't right. You can't do this. his is against the law.' His uncle hung up on him and he tried furiously to redial.

'Sir, please...' The attendant held out his hand for the phone, insistence in his tone. His neighbors were staring with avid interest. All heads turned his way.

'But this is an emergency,' he said. Glancing around, he realized the plane was already taxiing. He panicked. 'Oh, no, no. I have to get off.'

He dropped the phone, unbuckled his seat belt and tried to rise. Someone across the aisle dived for his phone.

The urgent voices. 'Mister, sit down. Sir. Sit, please. You are endangering the passengers.'

People around him stared as he half stood, clinging to the seat in front of him, craning their necks to see the distressed man. The plane accelerated for lift-off, and he plumped down involuntarily. He felt the wheels leave the ground, the air under the wings, and was flooded with despair. They would have to turn back. The pilot would have to be told.

When the rooftops of Cali were falling away below two more attendants had arrived, concerned and more authoritative. 'Is anything wrong, Mister Kiryu? Are you ill?'

'It's my-my uncle. He...' Already they were out over the sea and heading up through clouds. 'We have to go 's been a mistake. Can you please tell the pilot?'

He took in their bemused expressions, the quick exchange of glances, and the lurid images of the headlines flashed through his head. _Zero Kiryu provokes airbus incident. Zero of Los Angeles in more trouble._

More scandal, more shame. More mockery of his name, using the coincidence of the ancient myth. He cringed from the thought of any further notoriety.

In the end he fastened his seat belt and apologized.

But he couldn't just acquiesce. He might be stranded in a hotel room, in a strange city on the other side of the world with no one to turn to except a man who despised him, but he mustn't give into panic. He had to keep his wits about him and find a solution.

First, though, he needed to be practical. He had expected many of his meals and all of her accommodation to have been paid in advance for the coming weeks, and his bank account was virtually empty except for the holiday money. Money for a little shopping, taxis, tips, day trips here and there. Holiday money. What a cruel laugh that was.

He took a deep, bracing breath and dialled Uncle Kaien's private line at the LA townhouse. This time he musn't lose control, as he had with the call from the plane.

'Kaien Cross?'

His uncle's voice brought Zero a rush of emotion, but he controlled it. Kaien sounded wary. Expecting the call, Zero guessed.

'Uncle, it's me.'

'Oh, dear, don't... Don't... Your uncle has arranged everything and it will be good. You will see. Are you...all right?'

Zero's heart panged at the notes of concern but he made himself ignore it. This wasn't time for tears. 'There's been a mistake in the hotel booking,' he said in a low, rapid voice. 'I find that I'm only booked for one night, and it hasn'r been paid for. The travel agent must've made an error. And when I met the tour director in the lobby my name wasn't on his list. I thought Uncle Yagari had paid in advance. And he was supposed to have paid the hotel for four weeks.'

There was a shocked silence. Then Kaien said, 'Not paid for? But-but how...?' Then his voice brightened. 'Oh, I know what he's thinking. Consider, dear, you won't need to be in the hotel for long.

The ruthlessness of the trick stabbed at Zero. Whatever happened to chastity before marriage? 'Oh, Uncle Kaien, what are you asking me to do?' This time there was no controlling his wail of anguish. 'Are you expecting me to go straight into that man's bed?'

Guilt, or perhaps shame, made his uncle's voice shrill. 'I'm not asking you to do anything except to give Kaname a chance. He is a good man. He will marry you. He is rich he has brains...Your uncle Yagari says he is a genius at what he does with the satellites.'

'He doesn't want to, Uncle. He doesn't want to marry me.' He wound up to a near scream. 'I'm not even cut out to be a spouse.'

A gasp came down the line loud and clear, all the way from US. 'Never say that Zero.' Kaien was shocked to the foundations. 'Where is your gratitude?' he wailed. 'You had a _bridegroom_ who was willing and you stood him up at the altar rails and dishonored the entire Kiryu and Takamiya families. Your uncle's oldest friends.

Emotion welled up in Zero's throat. He understood. After they'd taken so much care to keep him pure for his 'husband', in the eyes of their traditional world he'd been deflowered, dishonored, and still had no husband or spouse to show for it. And what else was a man for?

'I told you, uncle Kaien. He was unfaithful. You know it. He had a lover.'

Even from a hemisphere away he could hear his uncle's world-weary sigh. 'Oh, grow up Zero. If you want a family you have to compromise, and put up with things. Anyway, there is no use in all this arguing. Yagari won't change his mind.'

'He has a mistake. This man won't take an unwilling spouse. If you met him you'd know. He's not...He's a Japanese. He will walk away. Could you please...please, uncle Kaien, transfer enough money into my account for the hotel bill?'

He could hear tears in Kaien's voice. ' Dear, if it were up to me...of course I would. Listen, when you're married all money will be settled to you. Your uncle loves you. He thinks this is right. He only wants the best for you.'

'He always thinks he knows best, and this isn't best,' he said fiercely. 'And I won't do it. Tell him there's no way anyone will force Kaname Kuran to go through with marrying an unwilling man.'

Kaien was silent for a second. Then he said in a dry voice. 'Oh, yes, he will. He certainly will go through with it. As I understand it, there's nothing he wants more.'

'What are you saying?' Zero said, seized by an icy foreboding. 'Why do you think that?'

'Oh...' Kaien's voice sounded weary, more distant somehow. 'You know, I don't know about business, Zero. you're uncle says Kaname knows he has everything to gain from the marriage, and everything to lose if he doesn't chose it. His company will fail if he doesn't marry you. Celestrial. Isn't that what it's called?'

* * *

Hi everyone... I would like to thank you for all the reviews, favorites and follows.

I'm so sorry for the delay. I've been working and studying full time so please bear with me if it took more than a month to post the second chapter. But geez, here it is... It's mostly Zero's POV.

Thank You shokubu, matchynishi, yukishira ,irmina, lili974WOLF, 1Vari1E1, v, ss, babyangelholic, kluna, God-d-e-ss Eternity, rayie 159 , angelinonfire, KuroHime-Sama, Tanpopo for reviewing the first chapter.

I promise to update the next chapter soon. Contructive critisism is very much welcome.

**Please dont forget to review. Long or Short I love them all.**

Thank You!

-Lexi


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